


Return(?) to Koholint

by Triforceriku



Series: Zelda Unity: Side Stories [1]
Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-11
Updated: 2020-02-11
Packaged: 2021-02-19 03:15:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22504318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Triforceriku/pseuds/Triforceriku
Summary: Link wakes up on the shore of an unfamiliar island, yet the locals are acting as if he had returned after a long period of time. What could this mean for the young knight? And how will he get home?
Series: Zelda Unity: Side Stories [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1619137
Kudos: 5





	Return(?) to Koholint

**Author's Note:**

> This work contains spoilers for Link's Awakening, so if you plan on playing the game for yourself, maybe don't read this just yet.

...........

............

.......huh?

What's that light?

Where-

Where am I?

Outside?

This isn't the castle, that's for sure. Whatever I'm laying on is soft, sure, but it's no bed. 

What is this......sand? Why am I in sand, what?

"....lo!"

Huh? What was that?

"....He..o...?"

Is someone calling for me? I can barely hear them. Ugh, there's sand everywhere.

"Hello? Are you alright?"

OH, that was a lot more clear. Maybe I should say something so I don't worry them.

"Yeah, I'm- I'm okay. I just don't know wher-"

*GASP*

What in the world?

"It's you! IT'S REALLY YOU! YOU CAME BACK!"

?????!?

* * *

The young girl ran up to me and wrapped her arms around me, embracing me in the kind of hug you only give someone you haven't seen in ages. Judging by what she just said, I'm guessing that's what she was going for. Her hair, which was red, was getting in my mouth. Looks like she's wearing a flower in her hair too, it's a nice look.

.....this is a really long hu-

"Ahhhhh, I'm so happy to see you again, Link!"

Whoa, red flag, how does this lady know my name? She ran up and gave me a hug, she knows my name, but I can't recall a single thing about this girl. She looks _kinda_ familiar, but that's only because she reminds me of Mal-

"How've you been? Where'd you go? What did you do?"

Okay, so I guess I was here at some point, and then I left. Maybe I should start talking instead of thinking all these things to myself.

"What's wrong, Link? So happy to see me that you're speechless, huh? I guess you always were a more quiet kind of guy, huh? Well you don't have to be shy."

She finally lets me go.

"It's just you and me; Link and Marin."

Ohhhhhhhhhh, it's Marin. It's- It's Marin.

I have no idea who this woman is.

"Oh, uh, it's nice to meet you, Marin." I say, mainly because I have no idea what else to say.

"'Nice to _meet_ you'? Link, you goofball, stop acting like we haven't met."

Oh boy.

"Wait, you do remember me, don't you? Are you feeling alright? Did something happen that rattled your brain?"

"Well, I guess I can't say for sure," I say, confused. "I guess it'd be kinda hard for me to say so, you know?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Maybe we should go see someone in town, see if someone or something can't help jog your memory."

Guess I don't have a choice. I don't know how I got here in the first place, but maybe if I spend some time here, I'll find a way home.

"Alright, sure, lead the way."

* * *

Marin lead me to the North from the beach. We eventually came across a little village which, upon entering, housed a small number of people who seemed to recognize me.

"Oh, Link! It's good to see you again."

"Liiiiiink!"

"Hey, welcome back, man! It's been a while."

Man, as nice as this is to be greeted by all of these people, I don't recognize a single one of them. They're all thrilled to see me, and yet.....

"Hey all, it's nice to see you all, a-again. Sorry if I don't seem too excited to see you all."

"He doesn't seem to recognize me or anyone else here," Marin chimed in. "So we're gonna try to see if we can find something to jog his memory."

The people of the town wished us good luck before making their way back to their business. They all seem pretty sweet. One of them even gave be a basket of bread rolls, which was nice!

Marin brought me to another house, and lead me inside.

"Tarin, are you home? I brought a visitor!" 

"That you, Marin?" A voice called from another end of the room.

It came from a mustached man with a big nose, he reminds me of one of the knights at the castle.

"OH! Well if it isn't Link! Put 'er there." Tarin said, offering a handshake. I can't leave a guy hanging, of course, so I accepted it.

"Lookin' a little out of it there, buddy. Everything good?"

"He didn't recognize me at the beach," Marin explained. "and he didn't seem to recognize anyone in town, so we're trying to find something to jog his memory."

Tarin looked like he was pondering something. 

"The village ain't got a whole lot as far as I know, 'cept that crane game I suppose. If that doesn't work, there's always the Wind Fish egg up in the mountains."

The what?

"Oh you're right! Maybe something up there could help out! C'mon, Link, we should go see if the Wind Fish can help!"

"I don't know if that's really necessar-" I tried to say.

"Oh, don't be such a dork, Link." Marin interrupted. 

Rude.

She leads me out of the house and into various other buildings. One of which is a shop, where we bought food to share with each other. 

"So Link," Marin began, biting into some fruit. "I guess I never really got the chance to ask, but what do you do?"

What do I do? "In what regard?"

"Well, the last time you were here, you had a sword and shield with you. So are you, like, a warrior?"

"Oh, well I'm a knight, actually."

Marin's eyes lit up when I said that. I'm not sure why, I'm nothing too special. Just another cadet in the guard.

"Liiiiink! That's amazing! This whole time, I was friends with a knight! A knight came to our island!"

I'm on an _island_? well, that's not what I was expecting. But how far is this island from home? Heck, how did I even _GET_ here? 

I guess for now, I should just go with the flow until I find a way home. 

The people here seem nice, too.

"Alrighty," Marin said, finishing her snack. "C'mon, I wanna do some more stuff. Follow me, okay?"

"Sure thing." 

Marin leads me to other places in the village.

A house where a woman and her.....pet? I think it's a pet. Anyway, a house where a woman and her pet resided. Whatever that creature was, it was more rowdy than any creature I've seen. It chased me around for a bit while Marin laughed, can you believe it?

Another house that had nothing but this weird contraption in it. Marin called it a "telephone". It seemed to work like the communication stones the knights use back at the castle. When I told Marin about them, she seemed confused, yet intrigued.

Far from the rest of the village was a small library. There were only a few shelves of books, but the few they had still housed some interesting pieces of information. 

"Looks like this island doesn't have a lot of information about it." I said.

"Most of the island's knowledge is pretty small. There isn't a lot to discover, Koholint's a small island."

The next stop was the Trendy Game shop. Apparently this is pretty popular among the people of the island.

"Okay, so here's what you do," Marin explained. "you use these buttons to control the crane. Try to get one of the things on the conveyor belt, it's not easy though."

"Okay, I'll give it a shot."

I ended up losing 70 rupees trying to get a plush dinosaur. I eventually got it, but still. I gave it to Marin, figured it was the nice thing to do.

"Awwwww, thank you Link! Even when you don't remember me, you still treat me so nicely."

She skips out of the shop with a smile on her face, it's honestly adorable.

* * *

The two of us began taking a walk, with Marin leading the way. She knows her way around better than I do, so it only makes sense.

We made our way to a forest, located to the northwest of the village. The sounds of leaves rustling in the wind were enough to put anyone's mind at ease, and the sounds of animals chattering just added to it.

"I never really come in here on my own," Marin says, breaking the silence. Yet her voice is so gentle, I can't say that I mind too much. "Tarin says it's dangerous. But I think it's just because he got lost in here, before."

"I can see why he'd say that. I'm sure Tarin cares about you a lot, and losing you in _any_ way would probably do a number on him emotionally."

Marin seemed surprised at that statement. "You really think so?"

"What, you don't? I haven't been here long, but I can tell you mean a lot to not only Tarin, but everyone in that village. You seem pretty special, Marin."

Marin blushed. "Wow, I guess you losing your memory isn't the worst thing to happen. **UH- no offense!** It's just- You were never so talkative the last time you were here on the island. But now that you're talking, I see that you always know just what to say."

I couldn't help but smile at her, she's so sweet.

We kept walking through the woods for a while, talking about whatever came to our minds. She told me about her relationship with the people and animals of the island, her experiences with the crane game, and the amount of times she's wandered around the island.

I told her about my time as a knight, mainly because I had trouble focusing on what to talk about. My attention was on how many times we passed by the same looking trees.

"Hey, are we going in circles?"

Yeah, we were. Unfortunately for us, we weren't the only ones. A rustling sound came from behind us, and out from the trees jumped a couple of what I could only imagine were this island's equivalent to bokoblins. 

I attempt to reach for my weapon, only to find that I don't have any. Greeeeeeeeat.

Fortunately for me, our pursuers were decked out with swords and shields.

"Marin, stay behind me."

She of course did just that. For her sake, I can't hesitate.

I made a mad dash toward one of the monsters, disarming him and stealing his gear in a single movement. I strike them both down before turning my attention toward Marin. One of the monsters was sneaking up behind her.

"'Scuse me." I say, dashing past her, clashing blades with the monster. He and I face off, with him getting a few good hits on me, before I strike him down like the others.

"Link!," Marin exclaimed. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm alright. Thanks for asking. Are you okay?"

"Yes, but, you're hurt."

She points to a few of the wounds the monster left on me. In all truth, they aren't all too bad, but left untreated they could become a problem.

"I should be fine for the moment, but we should probably get something for them."

Marin though for a second. "I think these woods have something that could help us out. I remember Tarin saying something about a fountain, maybe we could look for that.

I'm guessing she means a fairy fountain, which would honestly be perfect. So we went looking for it, and we eventually came across a small pond. 

It was a fairy fountain, as expected, with a great fairy who was more than happy to heal us both up. Bidding her farewell, we departed and made our way out of the forest.

* * *

As we exited the abundance of trees, I could see mountains off in the distance.One of them had a large round object on it. Maybe that's the egg Tarin was talking about. I expected Marin to take us directly toward it, but rather than heading more toward the north, we began heading southeast.

We made our way through a marsh, fields, and ever over a bride or two. The whole time, Marin was reminiscing about the 'last time' I was here. Despite having no recollection of any of this, I couldn't take away from her happiness. Pretty soon, we entered another village, one fully inhabited by animals.

"Huh, where are we now?"

"This is Animal Village."

Creative name. Immediately upon coming in, we were swarmed by the townspeople- uh- townsanimals? A few rabbits, a goat in a dress, a crocodile, a hippo....oh hey, there's a Zora.

They all seemed to hold us in very high regard. 

"Marin!" One of the rabbits exclaimed. "Are you gonna sing for us?"

"Yes please do!" The hippo added. "Your voice is so lovely."

The rest of the townsfolk joined in on encouraging Marin, to which she made her way to the center of the town.

Marin sat down in the grass, and sent a smile my way before she began to sing. 

Her voice was angelic. Everyone, myself included, was enamored by her beautiful tones. Yet, I feel as though I've heard this voice before. It's on the tip of my tongue.

Ma-

My thoughts were interrupted by the cheers of the townsfolk. Marin sent another smile my way. She walked up to me with a skip in her step.

"Well?" She said, with a hopeful tone.

"It was amazing! Marin, you have such a lovely voice. What was that song?"

Something in her expression changed. She seemed worried, now. Almost entranced.

"Are you okay?"

"Um....yeah, I'm- I'm okay." she said, snapping back into reality. "We should probably head toward the Wind Fish egg now, huh?"

She made her way out of the Animal Village after quickly saying her goodbyes to the villagers.

"See you again soon, Marin!"

* * *

Far to the north of the villages, we began hiking up the rocky terrain of the mountains. The entire time we were walking, Marin was noticeably silent. This was unusual for her, seeing as to how for most of the day she was always talking about _something_. Something's bothering her.

The Wind Fish egg came into view. It's a lot larger up close. 

"Marin? Is everything okay?"

That did it.

"No," she finally said. "No everything is not okay, Link." Her voice was shaky. "You made a promise. You promised never to forget me, and I made it clear that if you did that I'd never forgive you."

"Marin-"

"I hoped that, if we did the same things that we used to do, that maybe you'd remember. Maybe if I sang my song, _something_ would come back to you. But nothing worked."

She completely broke down at this point.

"Am I- Am I really that forgettable?"

I didn't know what else to do, but my body moved on it's own. I pulled Marin into a hug.

"You aren't forgettable, Marin. I just- I'm not the one you think I am. And I know this is the case, because somebody like you could **_NEVER_** be forgotten. I promise not to forget you, Marin. You're my friend. And I don't forget my friends."

Marin hugged me tighter.

"How do I know that's true?"

???

"How do I know you won't forget me like any other dream?"

What is she-

"That's what happened isn't it? You- no, _MY_ Link forgot about me, just like anyone else would with their dreams. They just fade away."

Dreams? Wait- is this all-

Am I-

In a dream?

"Marin, what do you mean? This can't just be a dream, can it?"

We were both silent, the air around us moved. Dream or not, the emotions I felt were entirely real. Therefore, I had to make things right somehow. I had to make a promise, my own promise.

"Marin, the Link you knew, and the Link I am are not one in the same. So, I have to make my own promise to you. I promise that no matter what, I won't ever forget you. Some way, somehow, I will always remember you."

Marin's eyes, still full of tears, lit up at my words. She began smiling, as more tears streamed down her face.

"You *sniff* you dork. You don't have to-"

"But I do, Marin. I should have told you from the start, but I stayed quiet. So, to make it up to you, I'll keep these memories with me."

"Hold that thought."

She took the flower out of her hair, and handed it to me. A red hibiscus. I took the time to admire the gift she had given me, before returning my attention to her.

!!!

"I want you to have this. You have this to remember me by, so you have no excuses. Okay?"

Her whole appearance changed. She looks just like- like-

Malon.

"Okay, that's a promise. You have my word."

With that, the Wind Fish egg suddenly burst open, scaring us both.

"Oh, uh, I guess that's how I get home?"

"Uhhhh, I honestly have no idea. I'd give it a shot."

I stepped toward the opening of the egg, but turned to get another good look at my friend. With one final goodbye, I made my way into the egg.

"Don't forget me, Link!"

* * *

.....Link.....

.....Link!

"mmnh....huh?"

"Wake up, man."

Ralph was standing up, getting his gear on.

"Ralph? Ugh, what time is it?"

"Early AM, c'mon get up."

The sun wasn't even up,, why should I be? Where are we, anyway?

I look around, and we look to be in a kitchen. Oh, right, we were spending the night at Lon Lon ranch.

"Remember last night? You said you wanted to do something nice for Malon since she was letting us stay for the night. So we're gonna go into town and see what we can come up with."

That actually sounds like a good idea. I got up and started getting my uniform on.

"We should get some stuff for breakfast."

"Sounds good to me," Ralph agreed. "If we get back early, we can help around the farm."

"We should probably check to see how the tools are looking, see if they need any new stuff."

We made our way out of the house, moving quietly so not to wake Talon and Malon, and made our way toward the town.

"What's this town called, again?"

"Uhhhh, Mabe Village, I think?"


End file.
